


An Oath is a Promise

by VSSAKJ



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-08-24 11:03:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8369815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VSSAKJ/pseuds/VSSAKJ
Summary: The differences are, as ever, between promises made and promises kept.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zen_monk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zen_monk/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide! Your prompt for Zestiria really hit on things I wanted to read myself, so I hope this works for you in response. Please have a lovely holiday season.

Ladylake was, in Zaveid’s opinion, a very boring-looking place. With his arms akimbo, he stood at the end of the bridge leading into the city and carefully angled his gaze away from the near-but-distant loom of the Spiritcrest. This wasn’t his corner of the world, but he knew where to go looking for company.

Given that other Seraphs had the ability to perceive his theatrics, Zaveid announced himself by booting down the door and shouting into the chapel. “Oi Lailah! Why didn’t you tell me you were moving out this way?”

“Evening, Zaveid.” No where near surprised enough, Lailah rose elegantly from her place by the sacred sword and clapped her hands together with a smile. “It’s been a long time.”

“Not since you were in Pendrago, yeah!” Zaveid laughed, strolling over to sling an arm around her shoulders. “And still as beautiful as ever.”

“That was the time you brought Dezel.” Lailah tipped her head to the side, away from Zaveid’s looming cheek, “You were quite fatherly, as I recall. It was a bit strange.”

“And you left me to cope with all the rigours of parenthood single-handedly!” Zaveid squeezed her tighter, and Lailah smiled again. “I’ll forgive your cold heart for a kiss, though.”

This time Lailah slid from his grip, smile ever firmer. “I’ve seen him lately, you know.”

Zaveid blanched.

“He was here with a friend of his and a group of humans. Another wind Seraph. They asked for a blessing and then moved on.” Lailah tapped a finger to her bottom lip, thinking aloud. “It seems they’re being merchants. Did you know about that?”

Zaveid’s expression made it clear he didn’t. The silence stretched for a long moment before Zaveid spoke again, scowling and shrugging at the same time, “Yeah, well, sometimes it gets lonely without someone around, you know?”

Lailah knew there were other words she should say; instead, she dipped her head and murmured, “I’ll always be here.” Without meaning to, she glanced towards the sacred sword as she spoke, enforcing her meaning.

Zaveid shook his head sharply.

 

“Hey! You asshole!” Zaveid skidded to a stop before the fountain of earth and rock, lifting his arms to shield himself. Unperturbed, he shouted, “Fuck this! _Eizen_! I didn’t chase your stupid dragon ass halfway across Glenwood to—” Climbing towards the peak of the Spiritcrest, Eizen gave a great shriek, and the mountain cracked beneath Zaveid’s feet. Swearing, he dodged to one side as a hail of boulders larger than most carriages bowled through the air. Even through the storming avalanche, he knew he could hear pain in Eizen’s cries.

Edna suddenly appeared beside him, her parasol held before her like a shield. “Hey. What happened to him?”

“What’s it look like? He got himself twisted up in too much malevolence, and now he's the worst kind of hellion there is.” Zaveid didn’t mean to snarl at her; although her voice was as monotone as usual, she’d spoken faster than he’d ever known her to do, belying her fear.

“At least he came home.” Edna’s words were deadpan and sounded anything but relieved. “What are you doing here?”

“I followed him.” Zaveid shaded his eyes with one hand, his hair whipping about him. He had to get closer—that was the only way. He raised his voice. “Can you get me up there?”

“Do I look like a sledgehammer to you?” Edna retorted, making a sweeping motion with her parasol to cast away some incoming debris. A second later, she swung it upwards and a slab of stone ploughed into the sky before them. Suddenly, it was much quieter. “We can go if you help. It’ll be harder the closer we get.” Several loud thuds made it clear that much was true. “What do you think you can do?”

Zaveid grit his teeth. “I can keep my promise.”

 

“I wasn’t expecting anyone to visit, you know.” Lailah broke the silence between them, her hands folded in her lap. They’d left the church at Zaveid’s insistence, and now sat at the edge of the lake itself, half alight with the lamps of Ladylake. Ripples lapped beneath their feet from time to time but did little to disturb the reflection of stars sprinkled across surface of the lake.

Zaveid grinned. “I couldn’t let you get to thinking I’d forgotten about you. You’re way too gorgeous for that.”

Lailah smiled, thin but warm. “You haven’t changed.”

“Neither have you.” Zaveid spoke quickly enough that it could be a retort, but without malice. He frowned across the lake, edging. “Anything interesting happening here?”

Lailah’s eyelids flickered, and she responded with a question of her own. “Why did Dezel start travelling with someone else?”

Zaveid started, then shrugged. “He had his own way to go. Said he had something he wanted to take care of. Moody little shit, he was always that way.”

Lailah’s smile remained fixed in place. “And Eizen?”

“Hey.” Zaveid surged to his feet this time. “You _know_ what’s on with Eizen.”

Lailah reached out and touched his leg gently; after he sat back down, she sighed, querying aloud, “I wonder how Edna’s doing.”

“She won’t let me near.” Zaveid rubbed his shoulder, moodily picking out the pointy, starless portion of the lake. “Guess I know why. She’ll get it eventually.”

“Mmm…” Lailah murmured, meaning _’I hope so.’_

 

“Hey, Eizen!”

“We’re not close enough yet, you dummy.” Edna had to shout to be heard over the pounding of rock on rock, and yet still managed to sound unaffected. Their stone-slab shield had dwindled to a circle only a handbreadth wider than her parasol; even with Zaveid quickening their progress, Eizen’s maelstrom of malevolence and earth was wearing down their defences. Still, they were close enough now to see Eizen thrashing and churning up the ground beneath his claws. His tail struck boulders and sent them flying as bits—he roared and showed teeth longer than Zaveid was tall. His eyes glowed furiously.

Ignoring Edna’s words, Zaveid shouted again, “Come on Eizen, give me a break! I promised I’d help you, didn’t I? So let me fucking help!” If anything, the fury before them seemed to increase.

Edna suddenly grabbed his forearm. “Hold on.” A moment later, a column of earth erupted beneath their feet, shooting them upwards like a shot from a canon.

“What are you doing?!”

“Watch!” Edna angled her parasol so it was beneath them as they began to fall through the air, and concentrated on thickening the stone surrounding it. Zaveid, understanding, added wind at their backs to work with the power of gravity, and together they hurtled towards Eizen like a comet. At the last second, Edna pulled to one side, so rather than crashing into him directly, they grazed his side and ploughed into the ground; abruptly, the destruction stopped. Eizen seemed stunned.

Zaveid picked himself up from the crater they’d formed and bolted across the ground towards Eizen. Even faced with teeth and talons, Zaveid stood tall, peering up into the eyes of an unrecognisable dragon. Quietly, he said, “Hey buddy, I made you a promise. I’m gonna keep it now. So hold still for me.” He levelled Siegfried before him, aiming for the vulnerable underbelly between Eizen’s foreleg and chest. Eizen flicked his tail, otherwise motionless. He exhaled and—

A column of rock slammed into him.

As he crashed into the rise of the mountain to one side, he heard Edna shrieking at him, her composure entirely lost, “What do you think you’re doing?! I thought you wanted to _help_! I’m not going to let you kill him!”

Coughing, Zaveid pushing himself upright and made a gesture with the gun, trying to reason, “Edna, come on, there’s no way—”

“There’s no way you’re killing _my brother_.” Edna snarled, parasol pointed dangerously in his direction. Eizen began to stir behind her, kneading with his claws.

“It’s what he wanted!” Zaveid let out his frustration in a burst, angrier than he knew how to express. “Do you think I want to kill him? He made me fucking promise!”

“It’s not what I want!” Edna shouted back, firing a line of shards in Zaveid’s direction. He dodged away, towards a partially caved-down path leading to the base of the mountain. He whirled back around but Edna was advancing, glowering, “I’ll find a way to save him. So you can get out of here with your stupid promise.”

“Edna.” Zaveid lowered his hands, shaking his head. “He’s already gone. He’s already dead. Isn’t it worse to see him like this?” As if to accent the point, Eizen gave a shriek and began to flap his way into the air.

Air and dirt billowing around her, Edna stood as solid as the rock beneath her feet, not moving an inch. “He isn’t dead. That’s still Eizen. And I’ll find a way to get him back.” She fired another round of shards at Zaveid, and he backed away further. “Now get out of here. Don’t you dare come back. Ever.”

 

“You could go.” Zaveid spoke suddenly this time, breaking the gentle sound of the water lapping at the lakeshore. “It’s been years since the last Shepherd died. Humans can't see us anymore. Why don’t you just—”

Lailah was already shaking her head. “I’m not going anywhere, Zaveid.”

“Why not? There’s an entire world out there and until it all—”

“I’m waiting.” Lailah readjusted her position on the stone wall, her hands folded together. “I believe a new Shepherd will come.”

“How can you? Time’s—there are hellions out there! All over the place! It’s only getting worse.” He’d tried to avoid saying it, but the words came out of him anyway, “It’s only a matter of time before anyone without a vessel is doomed. There won’t be any of us left.”

Lailah fixed him with a look. “You still have the gun.”

“Of course I do.” Zaveid’s hands ghosted over it, and he added, defensively, “It kills hellions. So there won’t be any more dragons. While I have it, I can do that much.”

“Delaying the inevitable.” Lailah spoke plainly, but her expression was peaceful. “There’s still no evidence anyone can help Eizen. Why keep it? It doesn’t matter if we’ll all be like him soon enough.”

“I told him I would. That matters.”

“Edna’s never going to let you.” Lailah smiled again, fond this time. “I made an oath. That matters.”

“It’s a dead oath, Lailah.”

Lailah lit up a strip of fortune telling paper; the flame was brilliant blue and white, and seemed to warm the air around them. “As long as I’m alive, it isn’t dead. And if I keep believing in things, they’ll have to be true eventually. Even if the sacred sword is the last place untouched by malevolence, and I inside it am the last seraph left unchanged, I will wait. I believe in the Shepherd. Whoever he may be, whenever he comes.”

Zaveid pressed his hands into his thighs and stood up, shaking his head. “I’m not like you. I can’t stand waiting around and not doing anything. I need to keep doing what I can do.” He patted Siegfried, his other hand balling into a fist. “For Eizen.”

Lailah smiled again, blowing softly on the paper as if it were a candle. The flame gently guttered out, though the place where it had burned seem to remain lit. “I’ll keep waiting. That’s plenty enough.”


End file.
